Flaws
by starlight.moon.princess
Summary: Because their flaws are what make them perfect. A collection :: 1 - Neville/Victoire, and perfection in places that it shouldn't be found; 2 - Theo/Tracey, and doing everything to protect the one you love; 3 - Crabbe/Goyle, and dying of a broken heart; 4 - Percy/Kingsley, and doing your duty no matter how much you hate it ::
1. Hidden Feelings

**This collection has been entered in the**** Summer 2013 Wizarding Modly Forum-Wide Comp Of Awsomeness.**

******This drabble:**

**Class: **History of Magic**  
****Option: **A - write something happy, humourous or heart-warming is 600 or less words**  
****House: **Slytherin**  
****Wand:  
****Score: **[please PM me the detailed score]

**This drabble has also been entered for the Pairing Set Bootcamp (42. nevillevictoire); the If You Dare Challenge (325. Streaming Tears); the Pairing Diversity Bootcamp (20. meticulously) and the Legendary Gods and Goddesses Competition (Laxmi)**

* * *

She's fifteen, and sobbing her heart out.

After all, she's the only part-Veela in the school, which means she's an easy target for the hatred of the other girls and the lust of all the boys.

But Victoire Weasley is so much more than just a pretty face, and she hates it that that's the only thing that people see.

It was inevitably Neville who would find her when she was in that state. He was the only one who knew how to comfort her. Not even Teddy, who she was dating, could stop her tears when the prejudice and desire she faced got too much.

She's seventeen, and all she can do is stare brokenly at the letter in front of her.

Teddy and she hadn't been in love for some time now, but she had never thought that they would come to this.

But it's staring her in the face, all black and white, apologies from Teddy telling her that he never meant to and he didn't see it coming. She didn't either, but she can't deny it any longer – Teddy's gone and fallen in love with James, and he's destroyed all her hopes of the two of them somehow returning to who they were before.

It's been a year since she was so destroyed – the girls have grown over their jealously and the boys over their childish lust, and the last time she cried, it was because Teddy hadn't returned to Hogwarts with her – but it's Neville who finds her once again. It's Neville who whispers words of comfort to her.

She spends a good part of her seventh year in the greenhouses. It's either that or spend it in tears, and that's not something she really wants to do.

She's pretty sure that she and Neville have become pretty good friends over the year, more than the typical teacher-student relationship she shares with her other professors.

And then she meets him after her Herbology NEWT, and he whispers to her how much he loves, how deeply he's fallen in love with over the years. He tells her how hard it was to hide, to put up a façade of fatherly care and friendship.

She's never thought of him in that way, but when his lips touch, it all makes sense all of a sudden. The two of them, they're _meant_ to be together.

Then he raises his head and moves to apologise for being too forward and expecting too much, and she just laughs, pulling him in for another kiss.

They've got a long road in front of them, and more explanations to give than she cares to think about, but here, in his arms, she finds that whatever she has to face, it's more than worth it.

* * *

**I hope you guys enjoy! Please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :3**


	2. Grain Patterns

**This collection has been entered in the**** Summer 2013 Wizarding Modly Forum-Wide Comp Of Awsomeness.**

******This drabble:**

**Class: **Defense Against The Dark Arts**  
****Strategy 1: **Defend. Use protection and barrier magicks to drive back Dark forces and to keep yourself and others from harm. Write a story about a character defending another character from something. **Slytherin Bonus**: Write about a character conflicted between the light and dark**  
****House: **Slytherin**  
****Wand:  
****Score: **[please PM me the detailed score]

**This drabble has also been entered in the If You Dare Challenge (827. run); the Pairing Set Bootcamp (13. theodoretracey) and the 10 times 10 challenge (emotion: confusion)**

* * *

He sat in the library, tracing the patterns in the grain of the wood table.

He couldn't help but think back to Malfoy's words, and the offers that were hidden in them.

He had been right – joining the Dark Lord would only be to his advantage. From the way that things seemed to be progressing, the Dark Lord would be completely in power – not hiding and letting Imperiused puppets do his job for him as he currently was – by the start of the coming school year. The Death Eaters would only prosper under his reign. His father was already one of them, which, combined with the purity of his blood, meant that they would welcome him with open arms.

And beyond all of that, it would mean that Tracey – Tracey, his gorgeous, perfect, half-blood girlfriend – would be safe. It would mean that there was no chance that a group of Snatchers would come to steal Tracey away from him, and that no Ministry official would charge her under trumped up charges of thievery of magic.

Tracey would be safe, and he couldn't help but think that was worth anything he would have to do under the Dark Lord.

And yet – yet, he could also remember his mother's last words to him perfectly. "_Run, Theo, run,"_ she had told him, her eyes panicked as she saw his father approaching him. He had never understood what she had meant until the Dark Lord had returned.

She had never wanted him to become his father. She had known that he was better than that, better than being just another Death Eater bowing and serving the Dark Lord and forgetting about everything important in his life apart from him.

So he traced the patterns in the grain of the table and waited for someone to tell him what to do.

"Theo?"

At the sound of his girlfriend's gentle voice, he looked up to find her standing in front of him, biting her lip and looking indecisive.

"Hey," he said, throwing her an exhausted smile. The books on the chair near him floated onto the table with a flick of his wand. "What's wrong?" he asked, turning to face her as she sat down next to him.

"They've got firsties in detention again," she muttered, glancing around nervously to make sure there was no one in earshot. "What they're doing, it's _horrible_!" she gasped, wringing her hands. "Oh _Theo_!"

He gathered her into his arms, her sobs wet on his t-shirt and his mind flying in a million different directions.

He loved her. He would do anything to keep her safe.

But he didn't know if he could join forces with people she hated so much, go against every value she held dear.

She may have been a half-blood, but she was also a Slytherin. That would help to protect her.

And maybe the rumours were true. If they were, Potter was returning, and bringing the war with him. The Dark Lord had never won against Potter. Maybe – just maybe– he stopped that thought. There was never any way for him to know who was monitoring his mind.

But he would wait, wait and not make a stupid, impetuous decision. Until he had no other option that would protect Tracey, he would wait and let the war play out more.

He bent down to drop a kiss on Tracey's forehead. She had cried herself nearly to sleep, and rest was something she desperately needed – he wasn't about to wake her up.

Maybe he wouldn't need to join the Death Eaters. Maybe he would. He didn't know that yet. The only he thing he did know was that no matter what he did, he would do it to protect and look after her.

* * *

**I hope you guys liked it! As always, please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :)**


	3. Coward

**This collection has been entered in the**** Summer 2013 Wizarding Modly Forum-Wide Comp Of Awsomeness.**

******This drabble:**

**Class: **Charms**  
****c. **You fail miserably, and manage to accidentally cast an Incendio charm, setting Professor Allie's hair on fire. She's mad, your classmates are mad, and you're disappointed. Your first day in class, the new kid, and you've already managed to mess up! Your Task: Write an angst fic. As long as it's angsty angst angst, anything goes. Stipulation: If choosing this option, PM Professor Allie for prompts so that you can clean up the mess you made! You will receive five prompts and must use three of them. (Prompts used: **over, pain, crushed**)**  
****House: **Slytherin  
**Wand:  
****Score: **[please PM me the detailed score]

**This drabble has also been entered in the Tour de Fiction Competition (song: _'Get Lucky,' Daft Punk_, specifically the lines "_We've come too far / To give up who we are"_; word: pregnant; word: rain); the If You Dare Challenge (557. Dead Truth); the Song Fic Bootcamp (song: 'Get Lucy,' Daft Punk; 11. suicide); the Pairing Diversity Bootcamp (4. caramelised); Fanfiction, School of Fantasy and Imagination (Classical Music - write a fic without dialogue) and the 10 times 10 Challenge (Potion: Draught of the Living Death)**

_For Paula, because i just married her and she likes odd pairings_

* * *

He wasn't supposed to be here, drowning his pain in alcohol and rain.

The plan had been simple. All or nothing, victory or death.

And yet, here he was, living a cursed, half-life.

Sometimes he wondered if the _victors_ even remembered that so many of the people they had condemned as evil beasts were nothing more than children. Just like the Gryffindors had been taught to fight for Dumbledore, the Slytherins had learned Voldemort's words. They had never been given a chance by the so-called _Light_, reviled and hated as they were.

What reason did the Slytherins have to fight for a Light that didn't care what happened to them?

* * *

He wondered what they thought of him. Gregory Goyle, big bad Slytherin…had he already become part of a new generation of monsters children were warned about?

Then again, he had never been anything but Malfoy's puppet to them. He had never been a person, just a tool.

If only they knew the truth about him…It made him want to laugh, imagining their expressions if his story ever came out.

To them, he was just another dumb, blundering Slytherin who did nothing apart from what he was ordered to.

They had never known anything about him.

* * *

Vince and he – the two of them had been best friends since birth. If one of them had been a girl, their parents would have arranged for a marriage contract between them at the speed of thought.

Draco had been nothing to them, just another person they had to protect because their fathers told them to. Their loyalty had always been to each other first, and then the Dark Lord. Draco had never even figured.

It shouldn't have surprised them – falling in love with your best friend was practically _expected_. But they'd been raised with the knowledge that they would one day be married off to pureblood girls who they would get pregnant and raise another generation of pure witches and wizards with.

But in the end, it hadn't mattered. In their world, it was the other who came first, not society. Of course, they would have done what society expected them to, but they would never have given each other up for that. The only difference between them and most other pureblood men would be the fact that they carried on a relationship with a man outside their marriage instead of a woman.

* * *

In a way, they'd loved each other forever. But it had been the Yule Ball in their fourth year that had truly brought their feelings forward.

Draco had spent the months leading up to the Ball cribbing about the fact that his parents expected him to take Pansy Parkinson, easily the least attractive girl in Slytherin, to it. When he'd realised that Crabbe and Goyle weren't suffering like he was, he'd taken to annoying them about who they were going with.

It had become a point of pride for Draco, the fact that he at the very least _had_ a date, while Vince and Greg didn't.

But the only thing that Greg had taken away from his conversations with Draco was the fact that Vince might find himself a date. He could find someone to go out with, and leave Greg behind.

The thought of being alone, without Vince…it had been enough to make him snap. His fear had given him the courage he needed to confront Vince with his feelings, and it had paid off.

They'd been together ever since.

* * *

When the Dark Lord had returned, he had been certain that they were going to reign victorious.

After all, there was absolutely no way a seventeen year old Gryffindor could defeat the Dark Lord, even if the Gryffindor in question _was_ Potter.

And they'd been vindicated. Dumbledore was killed, Snape took over Hogwarts, and the Ministry had finally been freed of the muggle-loving morons that ran the place.

They'd finally had teachers who understood them, who let them shine.

Of course, Greg couldn't deny the fact that torturing blood-traitors didn't have its own appeal, but the fact that they were the one who ruled the school and not the fool Gryffindors was undoubtedly the best part of having Snape and the Carrows running Hogwarts.

It should have been simple. When Potter had dared to show his face at Hogwarts, all they had needed to do was kill him. Sure, the Dark Lord wanted to kill Potter himself, but he wouldn't have been upset at seeing the Gryffindor's dead body in front of him.

But then Weasel and the Mudblood had gotten involved, and the two of them had had to focus all their energy on getting rid of those two first. Draco hadn't exactly been any help, yelping about the fact that they weren't supposed to kill Potter.

And the Mudblood – that _stupid_ Mudblood. She had just refused to right thing and let Vince rid the world of her existence.

No, she had to insist on remaining alive.

If it hadn't been for her – Greg could still remember the fire that Vince had had to unleash to get rid of those three. But that Mudblood –

She should have _**died**_!

Instead, she'd had the nerve to escape from the fire and leave Vince – Vince, who was so much better than she could ever dream of being – there to die.

And then she and her friends had decided to torture Greg.

They should have just let him die. They'd already crushed Greg's heart by making him watch the one person he loved burn to death, but then they'd decided to prolong his pain by saving him.

He'd join Vince soon. He knew that as well as he knew the fact that his name was Gregory Goyle.

But he had been a Slytherin, not a Gryffindor, and it took a lot of courage to be able to kill yourself.

Soon, very soon, he'd scrounge up that courage and take the leap that would end his misery. But until that happened, this was where he would be, drowning his grief and heartbreak in alcohol and rain.

* * *

**I hope you guys liked it! As always, please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :)**


	4. Socialite

******This drabble:**

**Class: **Potions**  
****Option: **A - You're in luck! They're only just beginning work on today's potion, and Professor Scrunchy has left the room to sneak off to the kitchens - I mean, investigate a strange noise outside. You slip in and set up quietly. Your story must have these ingredients: dark, light, fire, aquamarine, purple, eight, trip, water, personality, quill, wave, frame, simmer, stop. Be sure to mix them well and points will be yours!**  
****House: **Slytherin**  
****Wand:  
****Score: **[please PM me the detailed score]

**This drabble has also been entered in the Fanon Pairings Competition (PercyKingsley; word: raindrop, phrase: "...never"; colour: grey; object: dress robes); the If You Dare Challenge (761. A Ball) and the 10 Times 10 Challenge (Colour: Grey)**

* * *

Sometimes, it seemed like the only thing that the Minister of Magic had to do was attend balls, galas, and various other celebrations.

Kingsley Shacklebolt had agreed to become Minister in order to clean up the mess left by Voldemort and his Death Eaters, not to show his face at every party thrown by the elite of the wizarding world. And yet, looking down at the purple dress robes his Senior Undersecretary had demanded he be attired in, it seemed to him that he had been reduced to nothing more than another socialite.

"Minister?" a voice called from outside his office. "Are you ready?"

"Come in, Percy."

The lanky red-head – who was himself attired in dress robes of the lightest aquamarine – entered his office, looking slightly confused. It had been a shock for a lot of people when Kingsley had chosen Percy to be his Senior Undersecretary, picking him over other, better qualified candidates. But of everyone who had applied, Percy had been the only one who would be able to adapt to the unique situation their world found itself in after the war.

Of everyone Kingsley knew, Percy was the only one whose personality could truly be called grey. He was neither Light, nor Dark, which meant that he would be able to treat both sides with fairness. If nothing else, Percy's appointment ensured that Kingsley had someone on hand to make sure he wasn't being too biased towards the witches and wizards who fought for the Light.

"Minister?"

Kingsley waved his hand towards the seat in front of him. When Percy sat down, he leaned forward, hands on his chin. "Tell me, Percy," he said, "What would happen if I decided that not to go to this gala?"

A raise of an eyebrow was the only sign Kingsley had that Percy was annoyed. "Minister, I sat down with a quill and wrote your RSVP to the Bell gala myself. You cannot just decide not to show up!"

"That's not what I asked you, Percy," Kingsley said, a hint of teasing entering his voice. He had many sound reasons for picking Percy for this post, but he also couldn't deny the fact that the pleasure he gained from annoying the red-head was one of them.

"You agreed to go to this, Minister," Percy said, just a hint of steel evident in his voice. "It would be extremely rude of you not to show up."

Kingsley sighed. It was obvious that his Undersecretary wasn't going to lighten up, no matter what he said, unless he agreed to attend the gala. Sometimes he forgot that Percy's stubbornness was like a blazing forest fire that he couldn't stop. He needed a river of water to stop his simmering temper, not the few raindrops that Kingsley was.

"I never said I wasn't going, Perce," he said, softening his voice. "I was just asking you a hypothetical question."

Percy looked at him suspiciously, checking for signs that Kingsley was lying. Finding none, he allowed his expression to soften. "We're going to be late if we don't leave soon, Min- Kingsley," he amended at said man's annoyed look. "You can ask these questions once we're done with the gala."

"It's barely half past seven, Perce," Kingsley said exasperatedly. "The gala starts at eight, and it's not like we're making the trip in a carriage – flooing there takes barely a second."

"And I also know you," Percy replied, arching another eyebrow. "You'll take as much time getting ready as you possibly can just so you have to spend less time there."

"Who me?" Kingsely asked innocently. "Doing something like that…never!"

"Come on, Kings," Percy said, looking at him fondly, "We need to go."

"I don't want to," Kingsley sighed, looking obstinate. "You know I hate these things. The people, the press…"

"You're Minister, Kingsley," Percy interjected, "You need to deal with these things."

"I know, I know," Kingsley muttered. "And I would be able to if it wasn't for – Why does it have to be a secret?" he asked, looking at the man opposite him with an almost desperate look on his face.

"You know why," Percy replied. "You've barely been in charge for half a year; you need to let the wizarding world get to know you before giving them such a shock."

Kingsley let out another upset sigh before getting up from his seat and making his way around the table. When he reached Percy's seat, he knelt down and looked the other man squarely in the eye, before reaching out and tugging a now blushing Percy's torso downwards.

As their lips met, he murmured, "I'm still not happy about it, you know. But I guess I'll settle for a last kiss before we leave."

Percy laughed softly. "I love you too," he whispered.

Kingsley smiled gently and moved forward just the slightest, closing the last few millimetres distance between their lips.

* * *

**I hope you liked it! As always, please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :)**


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